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NBC's
Technology Showcase
In the process of developing the Web version of their service, NBC
Desktop Video has created a Technology Showcase so that its customers
can better understand their options. Producers in New York (or who
can travel to New York) will be interested to know that the NBC
Desktop Video Technology Showcase which offers computers configured
with virtually every type of online video codec is open to the business
community for evaluation purposes. To my knowledge, this is the
only public room where these technologies are offered for a side-by-side,
hands-on comparison. To arrange an appointment at NBC Desktop Video's
Technology Showcase, call 212-664-5781.
NBC's
Kirk Vartan who is part of the team that has been experimenting
with all of the different codec's in the Showcase says that NBC
Desktop Video is still undecided about which software to use in
implementing their Internet service. However, he says that their
investigation has narrowed it down, but "not locked into" VDOLive
or VivoActive with an outside chance of Vosaic. He said that given
the corporate nature of their service that Vivo's advantage is that
there are no firewall issues. VDOLive's advantage is the sophistication
of its software.
Vartan
also confirmed that Iterated's ClearVideo delivers "superior, razor
sharp image quality", however, given the quantity of material that
NBC plans to produce on a daily basis, the time involved in using
their codec is too long.
Vartan
said that Vosaic has "good technology concepts" and a "keen grasp
of what needs to be done;" however he said that their "implementation
is still being developed."
QuickTime
& New Compression Variables
 DRTV
World's Kilgo is producing QuickTime clips using ClearVideo at rates
close to streaming bandwidths. He showed me a sample that was playing
at about 4 kilobytes per second. But before I confuse you, let me
explain a bit (pun intended) about how these new codec's squeeze
video through such a narrow pipe.
First
of all, modem speeds are measured in bits not bytes, and file sizes
and most computer users measure file size and file transfer speeds
in bytes not bits. As most of you know, there are eight bits to
the byte. So, for example, if a 28.8 modem gets a best case transfer
rate of 24Kbps (kilo-bits per second), divide 24 by 8, and that's
a file transfer rate of 3Kbs (kilo-bytes per second). Small even
by the standards of the old double speed CD-ROM drives which delivered
digital movies at about 150Kbs. Now, remember, this is both audio
and video.
VDOLive,
for example, uses a non-standard 8kHz audio codec, down from the
standard 11kHz, which uses 8 kilobits or one kilobyte out of the
three in our example. There's a new audio codec on the Mac called
GSM that can drop audio bandwidth to .5K out of the three; but because
QuickTime for Windows does not support the full QuickTime architecture
until version 2.5 which is due out in the first quarter of '97,
QuickTime has not yet reached the full cross platform performance
levels that are planned.
"QuickTime's
progressive download
allows you to choose to save the clip
if you want, which has the benefit
of enabling people to share
video information with others."
Another interesting difference is that VDOLive touts the benefit
of copyright protection. This is true if you're concerned about
people stealing highly compressed clips, although I think most are
too low quality to have much commercial value. QuickTime's progressive
download, on the other hand, allows you to choose to save the clip
if you want, which has the benefit of enabling people to share video
information with others. Surprisingly, to me, CPB's Coltman called
this the "best of both worlds," because the combination of QuickTime's
soon to be streaming/downloading combination gives you the immediacy
of streaming with the added value of being able to save for reference
or repeat viewing.
Personally,
I'm pleased to see Apple moving aggressively to make QuickTime part
of the streaming environment; and according to QuickTime's Internet
Product Manager, Jennifer Blome, QuickTime offers other advantages
by incorporating all of the functionalities of the QuickTime media
architecture (including text, multiple audio tracks, MIDI and animation)
within a player for which third-party software companies can write
customized codecs. Not only is Iterated's ClearVideo an example
of a third-party codec for QuickTime on the Internet; but, without
making any announcements, Blome said that other "codec and streaming
software vendors will also take advantage of the QuickTime architecture
in the future and will use the QuickTime plug-in for online playback."
 It
makes sense to me that in the same way that Avid, Media 100 and
Truevision (just to name a few) are using QuickTime as a media platform
that is moving from the Mac to Windows, other video companies on
the Web could do the same, with the benefit that users wouldn't
need to download and software companies wouldn't have to create
a new player for every codec. Of course, as a Mac-oriented video
producer, this also means that I can use software tools with which
I am familiar (rather than having to use a different piece of compression
software for every codec as is true with all of the proprietary
codecs). Of course, this also enables producers to take advantage
of some of the Mac's sophisticated software compression utilities,
most notably MovieCleaner from Terran
Interactive Inc..
Given
Apple's dominance in the non-linear video editing market and in
CD-ROM authoring, Media 100's minister of information, Patrick Rafter
summed up the evolution of QuickTime this way, "By ensuring that
QuickTime for Windows (version 2.5) offers full parity with the
Macintosh version, it can become the only truly multi-platform ambassador
for multiple media, a kind of PostScript for video/audio/and graphics."
In the multi-platform environment of the Web, this kind of standard
is more important than ever. As my sixteen year old son, Andrew
Leland said when he found out that the Mac version of the VDOLive
player was inferior to the Windows version, "It's a horrible thing
to be penalized for using a Mac."
Making It Worthwhile
To
bring it all back home, CPB's Coltman reminded me of one of my favorite
themes amidst all of this techno-babble. When I mentioned the time
involved in compressing ClearVideo, Ted said, "Encoding time is
the bug-a-boo of people who are trying to do too much. Nobody has
that much good video." And given the glut of information already
on the Internet, I knew immediately that he was pointing to the
need for good editors. He called it "channel mentality." Bottom
line, you don't need a full-time channel's worth of output to say
something worthwhile. Was it Franklin, Twain or Emerson who said,
"I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn't have the
time."?
Next
month, I'll address the other bottom line with a column about some
video business models that are working and some that are not working
on The Video Web. Until then, I'll leave you with the words of my
old friend Scoop Nisker: "If you don't like the news, go out and
make some of your own."
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